


Making A New Start

by wingsofthenight



Series: After the Nightmare [2]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Brother Feels, Dysfunctional Relationships, Gen, Guilt, Sort Of, They're getting there, talking things out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 11:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19004428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsofthenight/pseuds/wingsofthenight
Summary: The twins actually fixing their relationship and moving on has to start somewhere. They still have a long way to go, but maybe this one night can start a breakthrough.





	Making A New Start

**Author's Note:**

> As a warning: Instead of 5 taking place five years after 4, it's three in this. This is because trying to fit the anime in if Patty's supposed to be 18 when I can't see her being younger than 8 in it is giving me massive headaches. Plus there's something poetic in it being about twenty years after DMC3 in my opinion, but that's a more secondary thing.

Dante couldn’t remember the last time he felt this happy.

He was finally with his _family._ Nero, his wonderful nephew that was still a punk despite having cooled off quite a bit these past three years, and Kyrie, his niece in every sense that mattered, who cares if they didn’t have a piece of paper saying it was official yet? Julio, Kyle, and Carlos, those three rambunctious kids that had managed to worm their way into everyone’s hearts and may as well officially be Nero and Kyrie’s kids. Nico, who may as well be his niece too, given how he had felt about Nell, even though he barely knew her.

And last but certainly not least… Vergil. His twin, his _brother._ The one he’d spent the last twenty years thinking he’d lost for good.

He was almost happy that Lady and Trish weren’t here because he’d definitely have to make even more of a conscious effort to keep from purring, but he’d accept that inevitability because that would mean his whole family was under one roof for the first time ever.

That one blemish aside, this really was one of the happiest nights of his life. One highlight was the kids coming in and giving him a big hug and asking if he brought them a present, which led to him introducing them to Vergil.

Julio calling Vergil a “butthead” had the entire house dying from laughter. He was positive that the whole house respected him for his guts after that glorious moment, and that included Vergil. Even all these years later he could still read the grudging respect his brother tried to hide on his face.

Another highlight was Nico pulling Vergil aside and flat out asking him to Devil Trigger and nodding when she judged him to not look like a very swatable fly, making Vergil very confused and for him and Nero to just about die from laughter because they knew exactly what she was referring to.

The biggest highlight though? Just being able to have the dinner he’d helped Kyrie prepare while they were letting father and son talk things out with this family he’d found. Yes, Vergil was still very awkward and conversation was a bit stilted at times because no one was quite sure what to say, but he would have been very concerned if things had been perfect right off the bat, so that didn’t in any way detract from the fact that he finally had dinner with almost all of the family he’d found.

The only real issue came much later on, when they were helping clean up and Kyrie pulled both him and his brother aside with a slightly guilty look on her face. “Dante, Vergil… I didn’t think of this before just now, but we only have the one spare room. Nico took the other one we have, and even though she usually spends far too much time in the garage despite the fact that I refuse to put more than a cot down there…”

To Dante’s shock, before he could say he’d survive a few days on the couch, Vergil said, “I can survive having to deal with my idiotic brother in the same room as me. I unfortunately was forced to deal with that for the first years of our lives, after all.”

The devil hunter just stared at his brother in shock. Vergil had been the one to beg for his own room when they were six because he hadn’t wanted to share anymore. They had ended up in each other’s rooms more often than not because as much as they bickered they still liked spending time with each other, but it didn’t change the fact that Vergil was the one to bring it up and insist he wanted it. “Verge… I can take the couch you know…”

“You are the one that spent the most time in that room, spent the time in this house and helped them. If either of us should be put on the couch, it is I.”

Dante had no idea how he didn’t reel back in horror that his brother brought that up. He hated it, but he couldn’t find one reason to try and dispute that. He had said nothing but the truth in nothing but a completely neutral tone after all.

Before he or Kyrie could find a single word to say, his brother turned to look at him and continued, “I refuse to let you give up the room on my account. Either we may share, or I will find alternative accommodation in this house, no matter what it may be.”

Well, at least he made it clear he wouldn’t be leaving regardless. Dante wouldn’t have taken that well, not after everything. He sighed. “Fine. If you want to smack me for sprawling out on the bed and taking up all the space again…” he trailed off, trying not to let on that he hadn’t sprawled out for years. Living on the streets with only limited space did a lot kick that habit.

Vergil just rolled his eyes. “I shall survive the horror,” he replied dryly.

Kyrie sighed, but didn’t dispute that. “I need to make sure the kids actually went to bed and Nico isn’t letting them stay up too long for story time yet again. There should be extra blankets in the closet if that will help.”

Dante shrugged. Neither of them were big blanket hogs if he remembered right, so he didn’t have all that much of a problem with that. Vergil didn’t seem to have many objections either, which only confounded him more, but he had a feeling that he would get answers as to why his twin was suddenly so amiable to this scenario sooner rather than later.

(He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted said answers. He had his suspicions on what they were after all, and none of them were nice…)

Thirty minutes later, goodnights were said to all their family, and they were both ready to turn in. It was far earlier than he usually went to bed, but one didn’t exactly sleep in Hell, so it was warranted.

(Not that he really needed it while there; all of the demonic energy floating around that place did more than enough to keep him in good shape. It was almost disconcerting just how well he felt in that place…)

Neither of them said a thing as they got into the nice, large, and soft bed after taking turns in the bathroom. Dante could easily fall asleep right then and there because wow this was a comfortable mattress, much nicer than the one at home he kept forgetting to save up to replace, but he refused to let himself, not when he had suspicions on why his brother was acting so weird. Instead, he just laid on his back, relaxing as much as he could as he focused on his brother’s actions.

He didn’t have to wait long at all.

Mere minutes after they got in, Vergil started shifting. He never turned to face him, but he could tell just how often he moved to one position that lasted only a minute at most before a new one was attempted, the cycle repeating endlessly.

Dante wanted more than anything to say something to stop it, to find out if his if his guess was correct (considering how he’d been in Hell before, he doubted it would be wrong as much as he hated it), but he couldn’t. With everything that had happened earlier in the day, whether his brother would even think about letting him yet again in was in question. He never had in the brief time they had been around each other after that night over thirty years ago…

Finally, what seemed like hours later but was in reality far, _far_ less time, Vergil shifted as if to get up, and almost involuntarily Dante’s hand shot out to grasp his. “Verge…” he said, trailing off as he realized he had no idea where to start.

Vergil shook his head, still refusing to look at him. “I cannot sleep here,” he said quietly. “It is… this bed is too comfortable.”

Dante sighed. “Hell isn’t exactly a destination vacation,” he muttered, wishing that he’d been wrong, but it had taken him a long time to reacclimate to living a normal life after his trip to Hell the first time, and he’d only been stuck there for a little under four months, not up to twenty years.

His brother shook his head slightly. “No,” came the almost silent agreement. “I will go find another acceptable place-“

“No,” Dante replied, gripping his arm tighter to keep him from leaving the bed, sitting up to get a better grip on him. “You’re not leaving. If the bed’s too much then what about a blanket fort? We made those a lot when we were younger, it’ll be comfortable without being too much.”

Vergil just stared at him, too many conflicting emotions for him to have any hope of deciphering, and even if the way his brother was acting both unnerved and concerned him, he just got up, rummaging through the closet, finding that Kyrie had definitely not been lying when she said that there were spare blankets there. In fact, she was probably understating things, there were so many blankets there. Oh well, the more blankets you could get for a blanket fort the better, so he just gathered as many as he could in his arms before dumping them on the bed. “Well, come on Verge! I’m not making it by myself!”

Instead of moving, Vergil just stared at him, still as a statue. Dante frowned. “Verge?”

Finally, after several long moments where he was actually starting to get worried, his twin finally looked away, hand grasping the sheets so hard it was a wonder how it didn’t tear. “You… Why?”

Dante’s frowned deepened. “Why what?”

Vergil shot him a look but quickly looked away yet again, just radiating shame. Oh. _This_ was the problem.

Dante shook his head, settling back on the bed, settling a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Vergil,” he started softly, taking a deep breath before continuing, “I… you know, I wouldn’t have stuck around if I didn’t want you around.”

His brother just shook his head, head bowed and tilted away from him. “I fail to see why.”

“It’s because you’re my brother. How many times do I have to tell you that before it manages to get through your thick skull?”

A bitter laugh was his reply. “Since when have I been your brother?”

The devil hunter reeled back as if slapped, hand dropping. “You’ve been my brother for the past thirty-nine years,” he said, trying to keep most of the hurt out of his voice, which he was sure he was failing at. “Why are you saying this? You’re my twin brother!”

Even more bitter laughter came from Vergil, his hands reaching up and covering his face as he continued almost hysterically, “I may be your twin, but I’m not your brother. Look at everything I’ve done! I tried to kill you too many times to count, refused to tell you a single thing at any point, tried to throw away everything you and our parents tried to work for… I shattered Rebellion. The one thing father left for you… and I shattered her.”

Dante just stared at him as he basically broke down next to him. “Vergil… Yeah you did all of that-“ and honestly, Rebellion shattering was the most painful of those because it was so recent and because she had meant so much to him, yeah his sword was badass and he wouldn’t give him up, but it wasn’t _Rebellion-_ “but don’t you remember the last month? All those times we teamed up together, fought together? You even were the one that decided to leave when we did! You’re my brother!”

The bitter laughter didn’t cease. “And you have no issue with my past? You are willing to forget everything I have done?”

“No.” Dante immediately replied, not hesitating to disagree with that assumption. “You screwed up, moron. Not going to pretend you didn’t.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You… look, you’ve got a lot to make up for. Probably going to be a long time before it’s not something I remember a lot. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you around or think you’re not my brother, as annoying as you can get.”

Another laugh, but this time it wasn’t bitter at all, more incredulous than anything else instead. “Fool. How do you know I have changed my ways?”

He didn’t. That was his biggest hang up. Sure, he _was_ sure that his twin wasn’t about to raise another demonic tower or tree or whatever else he decided to compensate with this time around, but that was never his biggest worry, as horrible as that fact sounded.

Instead of elaborating, he just shrugged. “Call it a hunch. Guess it’s up to you to show if it’s true or not.” A slight lie, but he really did have his gut trying to tell him things would be different this time around. His instincts never the problem; they were rarely wrong after all of these years. No, the problem was something higher up.

At that, Vergil let out an amused breath before looking at him with a slightly exasperated yet hopeful look. “A hunch.”

“Yep!”

His brother shook his head, an amused smile tugging at his lips. (That was something he’d never get over, the fact that his brother did more than scowl or “smile” menacingly at people now. He hadn’t done that since they were kids.) “You haven’t changed much at all.”

“You have.”

The moment the words escaped his mouth, Dante wished he could take them back. He didn’t mean them in a bad way at all, but the way it sounded…

The small smile dropped from Vergil’s lips. “I have. I hope… has it been for the better?”

Dante laughed, looking up at the ceiling as a small but sincere smile crossed his face. “Verge, the fact that you’re even asking tells it all. Got a long way to go, but you’ve made a good start. Apologizing for your actions- even if it is in your Vergil-ish way- is showing that.” He paused, wondering if this bit would be a good idea to point out, before grinning and adding as an aside, “Plus you’re not trying to kill us all. That helps too.”

The shame that had retreated slightly came back to his brother in full force, along with the considerable guilt he still felt. “I never meant-“

“I know,” Dante said, cutting him off, throwing an arm around his brother’s shoulders as much to comfort himself as his brother, sucking in a deep breath before saying, “Verge… stop feeling guilty. Don’t let it overpower you to the point where I can sense it without even trying. It doesn’t help anything.”

Shit. That was more than he’d wanted to reveal to his brother, but thankfully he was able to keep it off his face, only letting his concern show as Vergil looked at him in slight surprise.

Thankfully, his twin didn’t press anything, instead choosing to look away, close his eyes, and let a small bittersweet smile cross his face. “Sometimes I forget we have that ability.”

Dante chuckled, relieved that he had to actually try to sense the guilt now. He hadn’t expected it to go away- he knew better than anyone that it wasn’t that easy- but the fact that he couldn’t sense it anywhere near as easily as before was something he decided to count as a win. “Yeah, takes a backseat to our other abilities most of the time, I’ll agree with that.” Deciding that they should probably get finished with this heartfelt moment before either of them started crying again, he squeezed his brother’s shoulder one last time before standing up reaching out a hand to help him up. “Come on Verge, this blanket fort isn’t going to build itself!”

Vergil chuckled. (He made sure not to notice the way his fellow half-devil quickly blinked his eyes. If he brought up his brother’s, he’d have to bring up his own after all.) “No. It will not. We must make this the best blanket fort this house has ever seen,” he smiled, taking his hand.

“That’s the spirit!” He grinned back, squeezing the hand back before yanking him up and getting started on something they had both loved doing all of the time as kids. It wasn’t their dad’s office, their biggest blanket fort yet, but from everything he was sensing from his brother he knew that they both thought it was just as fun as that time.

* * *

 

 

Dante groaned, blearily opening his eyes and wondering what that annoying sound that tried to get rid of the relaxed feeling he had. After the sound of a crash and the indistinct sounds of someone scolding someone hit his ears, he realized it must be late enough that the rest of the house was awake. Or at least Kyrie and at least one of the little ducklings, as Nico had apparently dubbed the three kids.

He yawned, trying to lift up his left hand to cover his mouth only to be thwarted by a heavy weight. Trying not to tense too much, he turned his face to a sight that shocked him more than anything else had lately.

Vergil was curled up next to him, clutching onto his arm like a teddy bear, the most peaceful and relaxed expression he’d seen since they were kids on his face.

Dante couldn’t help but stare, slowly starting to smile. After a couple minutes of just letting himself bask in the happiness that arose after finding out that his brother had finally been able to rest for at least one night without being awoken by nightmares, he settled back down in their awesome blanket fort and just relaxed.

Someone would knock on the door when breakfast was actually ready after all. No need to disturb this peace just yet.

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up being a lot shorter than I thought it'd be. I had a lot more I wanted to talk about- like Vergil asking Dante about what happened in Fortuna when he met Nero, and stuff like that- but as I was writing it, it didn't exactly fit anymore. This is about the twins, not about Nero this time around. Don't worry, it'll get brought up later, just not here.
> 
> They still have a lot to talk about, don't get me wrong, and the next fic will in fact be a lot longer because neither of the girls are about to let Vergil off the hook for everything he's done and how that affected Dante, but they did make a start that didn't involve a fight breaking out again.


End file.
